Ancestry shows this on a lot of my US records and I wondered how much stock people put into the info it provides. Is it somewhat like the IGI where you still need to verify with other info? Don

Greetings from Toronto: The easy answer to Don's question is if you are not looking at what seems to be an "original" document you have to verify, verify, verify ....even then it might not be right ... Two quick examples One: In St. Andrew's Presbyterian Cemetery in Streetsville, Ontario there are three stones for three unrelated ladies who died within two weeks of one another ... one problem: all three of the tombstones have the wrong year on them (1867) .... they all died in 1866. How did I prove this? A local newspaper was indexed and I found an entry for one of the people I was interested in dated in 1866. When I read that item it was actually a news report about the three pioneer ladies having died within two weeks of one another and gave their names ... so the newspaper was published closer to the time of the event, and it predates the year inscribed on the tombstone. Two: I can cite numerous examples of where in marriage register the Priest (Minister or who-ever) wrote one name into the body of the register, and the person signed actually signed with a different name. Not many people check the signatures, i.e. the regieter entry said "James" Smith and he signed "Jonathan" Smith - which obviously the correct name to use. So if you do not have signatures to compare with your "James" Smith might become a deadend / roadblock in your research ... as you should be looking for a Jonathon Smith! Finally for those of you who participate may I say to you ... "Keep a good Lent" - and one last thing - genealogical wise - remember in days of yore you could not be married during Lent ... even though marriage is a Sacrament of The Church. Yours faithfully ... J. Brian Gilchrist ----- Original Message ----- From: "Don MacMillan" <donmac@accesscomm.ca> Subject: [NS-L] U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 > Ancestry shows this on a lot of my US records and I wondered how much > stock people put into the info it provides. Is it somewhat like the IGI > where you still need to verify with other info?

While we are considered to be genealogists, I often think family historian might be a better name. One problem we run into is to verify all data. But realistically that might not always be possible. Thus, if I look on the 1901 census and it has a birth date, should I use it? Those dates are well known to not be reliable, although often times the dates are correct. It is no different with names on census records. To give an example, on the 1901 census, George and Agnes Pineo in Hants County are shown with a daughter Catherine, born 03 December 1899. Imagine my confusion when I found a birth announcement in the Hants Journal and it says a SON. But then on the NS Vitals site, I now find a son Frank Lee Pineo, born 03 December 1899. Obviously the Catherine is a huge mistake. But should we ignore the 1901 census because it has errors. Of course not. Will we always be able to correct the errors, again the answer is no. Thus if the 1901 census gives me a birthdate, that I cannot find anywhere else, I will use that date, just note where I got it. The one thing we all have to remmeber, is that in 1900, these people did not have a driver's license with their date of birth on it. When the 1901 census was taken, when asked when they were born, they often said, April 1, then they were asked how old they were. They would then often tell the census taker that they were 73, and he would then calculate the birth year. Of course they often lost track of how old they were. What about a gravestone. Errors abound there also. On my great grandmother's stone the date of her death is given. But they mistakenly used her birth date as her death date. And also got the year wrong. My grandfather's has the wrong year on it. But then what if the date of death on the gravestone is all you have. You of course still use it, but note where it came from. An Example of this is, on the 1901 census there is a Daniel Nolter. His date of birth is given as 03 August 1826. As I can find no other record of his birth I use it. But I note that it comes from the 1901 census. He married 22 December 1857. But where did that date come from? From the birth record of his son in 1868. So I use that date and note where it came from. Is it accurate? Who knows. I have seen marriage dates on birth records that vary from child to child. Daniel's wife died 26 July 1891. That date is from her gravestone. I can't verify that date, so I use it and note where it came from. My great grandmother on my mother's side, has her date of birth in her obituary. But of course it does not agree with her baptism record. In my data base, I put in the obituary. Now you read my entry and it shows her date of birth and baptism date, from the church record, and then the obituary says something else. Kind of makes me look like I don't know what I am doing. But that is my message. We are historians and can only record what we know. Will we have mistakes in our work? You can bet on that. But our job is to report as acurately as we can. nothing more. Thus when I talked to my cousin and he showed me his birth certificate all officially stamped by the Registrar, then he turns around and tells me, that the certificate is wrong, he was born on April 23, not April 24 as the record says, I have to believe him. Go on the vitals site and look at records. My Grandfather William Henry Noble on his death record is Henry William. Imagine the fun trying to find him in the index under William, when he is recorded as Henry. Or my Uncle Robert Henry, and on his marriage record he is Henry Robert. Good thing I can search on Noble and Annapolis County, or I may never have found them. What if it was MacDonald? Would I find them? The other problem is the vitals site has errors also. Thus a Schnare indexed as SchMare. Two Dalrample deaths in Kings County in the 1930s not in the index. Bottom line!! Do the best job you can. quote your sources, and have fun. It's never going to be 100% accurate.